1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an air suspension assembly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An air suspension assembly is provided which forms an air chamber surrounding a shock absorber to fill compressed air in the air chamber for constituting an air spring (for example, Japanese Patent Public Disclosure (KOKAI) No. 110515/82). In the air suspension assembly, an air tank for the air chamber is mounted on a piston rod of the shock absorber and the piston rod is connected with a car body through a support including a rubber bushing above the air tank mounting portion. A spacer is interposed between the support and the air tank and can be interchanged with spacers having different thicknesses.
While an air suspension can generally adjust the car height by changing the volume of the air chamber, the spring constant of the air spring is changed in order by changing the volume of the air chamber. In other words, the volume of the air chamber needs to be changed to change the spring constant of the air spring, so that the car height can been changed. In "a strut type air suspension" assembly described in said public disclosure, the spring constant can be changed by changing the spacer while maintaining the car height constant.
The air suspension assembly disclosed in said public disclosure had a limitation in softening the rubber bushing provided in the support since the air tank is connected with the piston rod and thus a load from the air spring in addition to a load from the shock absorber is added to the support.